Three-My Little Moon
1407 Words
The voice came from behind her.
“Elara.”
She froze.
Not because of the name.
Because of the way it was spoken.
Softly. Tenderly. With the familiarity of someone who had whispered it a thousand times before.
Her heart stumbled.
Then came the words that made every instinct in her body scream.
“My little moon.”
Elara slowly turned.
The corridor was empty.
The bedroom door behind her stood open, and the darkness inside seemed deeper than it had been moments ago.
She swallowed.
Nobody called her that.
Nobody except—
“Mother?”
Kael caught her wrist.
“Don't.”
His voice was low, but the command in it was unmistakable.
Elara looked at his hand around her wrist, then at his face.
“You heard her.”
“I heard something.”
“You heard her.”
Kael released her.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then the voice came again.
“My little moon… come to me.”
It was coming from her mother's bedroom.
Elara's stomach tightened.
She had spent ten years trying to remember her mother's voice.
Now it was calling her from a room that had been locked since the day her mother supposedly died.
Kael stepped in front of her.
“You're not going in there.”
Elara stared at him.
“You don't get to decide that.”
“I do when whatever is inside that room already knows your name.”
“So do you.”
His jaw tightened.
Elara stepped around him.
Kael caught her again.
“Elara.”
She looked up at him.
“What?”
His expression changed.
For the briefest moment, the cold Alpha disappeared.
There was fear in his eyes.
Not fear for himself.
Fear for her.
“I've heard that voice before.”
Elara's breath caught.
“When?”
Kael didn't answer.
“When, Kael?”
His eyes moved toward the bedroom.
“In my dreams.”
The door slammed shut.
Both of them turned.
Silence swallowed the corridor.
Then something scratched against the other side of the door.
Once.
Twice.
Slowly.
Elara felt the skin on her arms rise.
Kael reached for the handle.
“Elara, stay behind me.”
She almost laughed.
“You've been telling me that since last night.”
“And you're still alive because you haven't listened.”
The handle turned beneath his hand.
The door opened.
Cold air swept over them.
The bedroom looked exactly as Elara remembered it.
Her mother's old dresser stood against the wall. A faded blue shawl remained folded across the chair. The curtains hung motionless despite the window being open.
But something was different.
The mirror.
The same mirror that had shown her a memory she couldn't explain now reflected only darkness.
Elara stepped inside.
“Mother?”
A figure appeared in the mirror.
Elara stopped breathing.
The woman stood behind her reflection.
Dark hair.
Pale face.
The familiar curve of her mother's mouth.
Elara spun around.
Nobody was there.
She turned back.
The woman was still in the mirror.
She smiled.
“My little moon.”
Elara's eyes filled with tears.
“Who are you?”
The woman's smile faded.
“You know.”
“No. I don't.”
“You did once.”
Kael moved closer.
The woman looked past Elara and directly at him.
Her expression hardened.
“You.”
Kael went still.
“You remember me,” he whispered.
The woman laughed softly.
“You remember enough to be afraid.”
Elara looked between them.
“What does she mean?”
Kael didn't answer.
The woman placed one hand against the mirror.
“You killed me once.”
Kael's face drained of color.
“You asked me to.”
“Did I?”
The question hung between them.
Elara's stomach twisted.
“What is she talking about?”
The mirror rippled.
The bedroom disappeared.
A lake appeared in its place.
Silver moonlight danced across black water.
A younger Elara stood beside the shore.
But she wasn't twenty.
She looked perhaps eighteen.
Beside her stood Kael.
Younger.
Different.
Yet unmistakably him.
Elara's breath caught.
The two figures were arguing.
She couldn't hear the words.
Then the scene changed.
Kael was holding a silver blade.
Elara stepped backward.
“No…”
The younger Elara looked at him.
There was sadness in her eyes.
Not fear.
Sadness.
As though she already knew what was coming.
Kael lifted the blade.
The mirror went black.
Elara stumbled backward.
Kael caught her before she fell.
His arms steadied her, but neither of them spoke.
The woman in the mirror watched them.
“You keep finding each other,” she whispered.
Elara looked at her.
“Who are you?”
The woman tilted her head.
“You're asking the wrong question.”
“Then tell me the right one.”
A faint smile touched her lips.
“Ask why your mother erased you.”
Elara's blood ran cold.
“My mother didn't erase me.”
“She did.”
“She died.”
“No.”
The word was quiet.
Certain.
“She was erased.”
Kael stepped forward.
“Where is she?”
The woman's eyes narrowed.
“You still think you deserve answers?”
“I deserve the truth.”
“No,” she replied. “You deserve exactly what you gave her.”
Kael's face hardened.
“What did I give her?”
The woman looked at Elara.
“Forgetfulness.”
Elara stared.
“What does that mean?”
The woman lifted her hand.
The mirror cracked.
A single fracture ran across the image of her face.
“You were never supposed to survive your tenth birthday.”
Elara's heart stopped.
She remembered her tenth birthday.
At least, she thought she did.
Cake.
Candles.
Her mother singing.
A silver pendant around her neck.
Then—
Nothing.
A blank space.
Ten years old.
And after that, everything became strangely incomplete.
Elara looked at Kael.
“You knew.”
“I didn't.”
“You knew something.”
“I didn't know that.”
The woman's voice softened.
“That's why they took your memories.”
“Who?”
The mirror cracked again.
“Your family.”
Elara's voice trembled.
“Why?”
The woman smiled sadly.
“Because remembering you means remembering what happened before the packs.”
Kael stared at the mirror.
“Who are you?”
The woman looked directly at him.
“You really don't know?”
“No.”
Her expression changed.
For the first time, she looked almost heartbroken.
“You killed me once, Kael.”
His eyes widened.
“And this time,” she whispered, “you may kill her too.”
The mirror shattered.
Elara screamed.
Kael pulled her backward as fragments scattered across the floor.
Then silence.
Absolute silence.
Elara stared at the broken mirror.
The woman was gone.
But one thing remained.
A whisper.
So faint she almost thought she'd imagined it.
“Find Seraphine.”
Kael heard it too.
His head snapped toward the doorway.
“Seraphine…”
Elara looked at him.
“That's your mother.”
Kael didn't respond.
He was staring at something on the floor.
Elara followed his gaze.
The photograph.
The one from 1923.
The photograph of her.
And Kael.
It was gone.
So was the silver pendant.
Someone had taken both.
Kael crouched and picked up one of the broken mirror pieces.
Something was written across the glass.
Not reflected.
Written.
Black ash stained the surface.
YOU'RE REMEMBERING.
Elara's breathing stopped.
Another line appeared beneath it.
AND HE'S REMEMBERING TOO.
Kael slowly stood.
The room suddenly felt too small.
“Elara…”
She didn't answer.
A third line began forming across the glass.
One letter at a time.
SERAPHINE.
Kael stared at the name.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
“Who is it?” Elara asked.
Kael didn't answer.
The phone rang again.
He finally picked up.
A woman's voice came through.
Cold.
Calm.
Terrified.
“Kael?”
His mother's voice.
Seraphine.
He put the phone on speaker.
“What happened?” he asked.
There was a long silence.
Then she whispered—
“Whatever you do, don't let Elara remember the lake.”
Elara's blood turned cold.
Kael looked at her.
And for the first time since she'd met him, the Alpha looked completely lost.
Because neither of them had told Seraphine about the lake.
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